Did Ebenezer Scrooge Have ASD??? Did the Grinch as well???

Post Reply New Topic

So I'm watching the typical xmas shows with my kids, and the thing that stands out to me is that Scrooge seems to be at least an Aspie if not some other type of ASD.

Here are my arguments so far for Scrooge:

He was socially awkward, particularly with how to handle a girl who fell in love with him.

He is obsessed with counting his money.

He has an aversion to celebrations of family and people.

He is unable to understand the reasons he should care about the plights of others.

He is very particular about his environment.


Here are the ones for The Grinch:

He's oversensitive to far away noises.

He doesn't like people singing or being around him.

He is socially awkward.

He doesn't understand traditions.

He understands his dog, but not people.


I am sure there are more, but these are just the ones that have occurred to me as I've been watching the movies today.

This is an interesting topic. I never really saw both these characters that way before. Chances are both Charles Dickens, and Dr. Seuss unintentionally based them on ASD but I can see were your coming from. Scrooge & The Grinch do seem to have the symptoms.

Oooo, when I was 14, I played Scrooge in school drama!

I think that Dickens wanted him to be only bad person. One who doesn't care about others = bad person. Many people think like that.

I am tickled, thanks.

Well, I mean I know these guys are supposed to be viewed as "bad guys" but I kept identifying with them because they have issues with the holidays because of seemingly ASD type traits.

It makes me wonder though if thats the way they all see us, we're "bad" because we don't automatically want to do all the stupid things they do and be around all the bright lights and flashing cameras and "holiday cheer." It made me really think about the fact that it might be a legitimate reason why so many people are put-off by our behaviors, because its completely conditioned that people who act like Scrooge and the Grinch are portrayed as evil/bad.

I never thought of the Grinch that way before. When I was in my preteens/early teens, I really enjoyed the Grinch movie starring Jim Carrey and I even did a school report on Jim Carrey because of my love of the movie. I knew almost all of his quotes by heart. Now that you pointed out that he has traits that resemble AS, I can understand why I liked him so much.

I can't really say anything about the Grinch, but isn't scrooge a jerk because of the difficulties he faced in his life that made him withdraw from the world so he wouldn't get hurt anymore?

also why can't people just be jerks, why do they need to have a syndrome to be withdrawn and irritable?

EDIT: to throw another wrench in the cogs, don't both of these character do an about face and become loving and social people after learning the value of the Christmas spirit or whatever.

@Darkstone100 Scrooge's traits are sometimes pointed as being caused by a distant father or his mother dying at birth, but it depends on the version of the story being cited. Many versions of the tale discuss nothing in his life that specifically causes his obsession with work and counting money or his inability to feel for his fellow man. Many of the versions do discuss him as being awkward with the girl he loves but eventually pushes away with his obsession with work and money.

Also, people can be jerks, but I just thought it was interesting that these two characters that are demonized so much have many ASD characteristics and are viewed as "bad." I'd be the first to tell anyone that I think there is an over-classification and over-medicalization issue of psychiatric diagnoses, but this was a bit of fun, not an in-depth exploration of the medicalization of mental disorders. Psychology and sociology are my special interests, and what I have my BA in, so I've written countless papers on these issues. That being said, this discussion is not a place I want to get into that.

Yes, these characters at the end of the story become "normalized" and suddenly do an about-face on their previous antisocial behaviors, but this is because the stories push social norms. Isolated people who don't like other people and view them as stupid or unworthy are never the hero of a story unless they give up those traits in a "majestic transformation" where they become the hero by overcoming their faults and loving everyone. Its a typical story of socialization of normalcy and the happy ending where everyone is singing and playing and happy together.

Since the stories like that are all lessons in how "messed up" people became magically normal, I decided to ignore that part and just focus on their normal baseline behavior.

Scrooge seems more like he has Schizoid Personality Disorder than AS to me. He had a negative opinion of relationships/friendships & it seemed like he experienced very little pleasure from life or anything. He mostly wanted to be left alone. Schizoid personality can be a learned adaptation to things in life. He used to be kind of the opposite way when he was a kid. I think he became a scrooge because of things that happened. I never thought about Scrooge or the Grinch having AS before; I don't think the Grinch is a Schizoid.

Wiki says

Scrooge:
Imagine if something bad happens and your only holding point to sanity is money, what would you do?

having not read the original book, I don't know that really happened, but imagine if any of you had a really close love relationship with someone and that someone broke up with you. It hurts like hell. Everyone tends to retreat if the lose a loved one and a few even stay retreated from people and cannot let go of the loved one.

Love is actually incredibly close to psychosis in how the human brain treats it, and can thus have many of the side effects related to psychosis. The brain is hardwired to defend itself against insanity and thus makes the person hold on to something, in this case; money. Money does not hurt him and it feels comfortable to be with, thus he replaces the loved one with something else that cannot hurt him back, again; money.

it could happen to any person wether ASD or NT, so I don't think that Scrooge could have any disorder from birth, but instead from the loss of a loved one.

as for the Grinch: it's simple revenge because of the hardships and bullying he went through for being different. The people have hurt him badly, but his dog is a trusty companion. He simply wants the people to see their errors.